Abstract Fruits and vegetables (F and V) are valuable for their micronutrients, but many F and V in diverse growth areas have not been scientifically validated for these components. The nutraceutical characteristics of the pulp of eight citrus fruits grown in Pakistan were, therefore, investigated. Expectedly, the fruits differed in moisture (86.9-88.9%), ash (0.37-0.53%), pH (2.9-5.8), total soluble solids (8.1-13.7 °Brix), titratable acidity (7.9-13.1%), total sugars (5.1-8.8%), reducing sugars (2.8-4.3%), and non-reducing sugars (0.3-0.5%) contents. Potassium, sodium and magnesium were the major minerals, while iron, zinc and manganese were present in minor fractions in the pulps. Phytochemical analysis (total phenolic content, 132-243 µg/g GAE; total flavonoids content, 4.2-12.1 µg/g QE; vitamin C, 36.3-62.3 mg/100 g) revealed antioxidant potential that was confirmed by a high 1, 1-diphenyl 1-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, showing a highly positive correlation (r2 > 0.921, 0.917, 0.807 p > 0.05) with the measured antioxidant components (Total Phenolics, Total Flavonoids and vitamin C). Principal component analysis shows a significant relationship between the citrus varieties and their quality parameters to guide their industrial potential as sources of nutraceuticals.

Abstract In the present investigation functional, technological, and rheological attributes of probiotic yoghurt were studied during refrigerated storage (4 °C) for 28 days. The different preparations of probiotic yoghurts were made from dahi microflora which was documented as probiotics. Three strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) i.e. S. thermophilus (S02FT), L. bulgaricus (TLB06FT) and L. acidophilus (LA06FT) were selected for formulations of probiotic yoghurt. Three sets of probiotic yoghurt including Y1: S02FT and TLB06FT (1:1ratio), Y2: S02FT and TLB06FT (1:2ratio) and Y3: S02FT, TLB06FT and LA06FT (1:1:1 ratio) along with Y0 as a control (non-probiotic strains) were prepared and stored at 4 °C for 28 days. The results showed that technological attributes of Y3 preparation had better lactic acid production (75% at 0 day and 93% at 28 days) as compared to control. Moreover, Y3 preparation had lesser synersis (20% at 0 day and 35% at 28days) as compared to other treatments i.e. Y1, Y2, Y0 that had 24, 70 and 18% synersis at 0 day of storage respectively). However, viscosity of Y3 probiotic yoghurt indicated higher values (3001 cP at 0 days and 1310 cP at 28 days) among the rest of preparations. Functional attributes of Y3 showed the better results such as viability of probiotics (40×10-6 CFU/ml at 0 day and 1.16×10-6 CFU/ml at 28 days) and antibacterial activity (7.5 mm at 0 days 7 mm at 28 days) compared to other preparations. Conclusively, Y3 formulation attained the higher sensory attributes due to its better lactic acid production, viscosity and lesser synersis values during entire study duration in formulated yoghurt.